High-Crime Cities To Get More State Troopers

LANSING (WWJ) – In a time where many officers are being laid off across the state — there is some good news on the law enforcement front.

Seventy-eight new Michigan State Police recruits will be graduating this Friday and many of them will cover posts in cities facing high crime rates.

“We’re definitely glad to have them. Anytime that you can get new troopers into the field it adds some … vigor to some of our older troopers that can get out there,” Michigan State Police Lt. Michael Shaw. “These young men and women come out there — they’re definitely fired up and ready to help out the state and help out the cities that they’re assigned.”

The high crime rate cities are Flint, Pontiac, Detroit and Saginaw — which are being targeted by Gov. Rick Snyder’s public safety efforts. (Read more about Snyder’s plan here).

“A lot of crime deterrent is by having visible officers out there, and the way that we help out is this frees up a lot of the resources that these cities have to handle their calls for service, where we handle more of the directed patrol routes,” Shaw said.

Shaw said about 120 troopers will graduate from the next school which begins in early November.